Relief
by Yami no Kaiba
Summary: Kicked out of his own body, Seto Kaiba has to deal with the largest betrayal of his fragile heart. Will anyone offer the poor brunette a reason to live? An alternate ending to the Noa Arc. NoaSeto SethSeto YamiSeto
1. Chapter 1

Title: Relief 1/?

Author: Emerald Star (FF.net handle)/ Yami no Kaiba (MM.org handle)

Series: Yugioh

Rating: Pg-13

Pairing: None (yet)

Disclaimer: If I could own one thing from the whole series, I'd own Seto. Unfortunately, unless the creator of Yugioh was willing to sell me Seto Kaiba's character ownership for two bucks, I'd never get him. I do, however, believe I own what my twisted mind puts him through. I think.

Summary: What if the Noa Arc had ended in a different way?

Warning: Spoiler / psychological torture / introspection / angst (it's Seto for crying out loud, when is there not angst?!)

*---*---*---*---*

Seto fell to his knees, staring at nothing. His normally fiery icy blue eyes were unfocused, as if the scene around him was not what he saw.

[No... It wasn't supposed to end like this. Little brother, why? Why did you pick him?]

Seto didn't even react as he felt the coolness of another's skin against his forehead, nor when high maniacal laughter split the silence around him.

[Mokuba... I'm truly alone now. What was the point of you stopping me, back then? Why'd you have to give me hope only to crush it yourself? Mokuba...]

Seto could feel himself fading, but he didn't care. [True death of the soul... That's what's happening now, isn't it? No more chances, no more reincarnations... Just utter deletion. Yet, there are also no more expectations to reach, no more stress from work and school, no more pain, no more crushed hopes. No more betrayal, like Mama and Papa promising to always be there, my trust in my adoptive father as an adult to do what's right, or Pegasus, whom I had thought of as a friend, even though we were only business partners.]

[Yet I thought Mokuba would always be there, always supporting me, always loving me. But now... Gods, he must of finally seen what all the others had, what drove them away and turned them against me. I must be one sorry piece of human trash, for even Mokuba to turn to another.]

Seto's eyes focused for a moment, even as his form grew more and more translucent. Tilting his head back, he looked into the triumphant blue eyes so like his own of the dead child who had stolen the one thing that made life livable for the teen. [I should feel angry... But I'm not. I don't feel anything, really. No, wait, that's not right... I feel... relieved? Like something really hard that I've been working on for a long time is finally over. Yes, that's it. Ever since Mama and Papa died, nothing's been right. This, me dieing, this is right. Besides, what's the point to living, if you're alone?] A slow, soft smile came to Seto's lips.

The boy above him stopped laughing, troubled at the sight. Why would the defeated brunette smile like that? Seto was dieing after all, all his things, including his very body, taken over by the dead child that so remarkably resembled him.

"Arigatou, Noa," came the barely whispered last words before the soul of Seto Kaiba faded into glistening specks of light, and with one final wash of golden light, departed forever from existence.

*---*---*---*---*

ES: I had actually planned a story quite similar to this one, but when I went to write it, this came out instead. I blame it on two things: listening to sad instrumental at four in the morning and walking home in the cold from school while being pissed off at my sister for not picking me up. That's right, Black Rose!! I'm severely pissed at you right now!! Hell, I'm so pissed I'm not telling you I wrote this for a couple days. *Goes off to fume and write the next part.*


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Relief 2/?

Author: Emerald Star (FF.net handle)/ Yami no Kaiba (MM.org handle)

Series: Yugioh

Rating: Pg-13

Pairing: ???/Seto + possibly more

Disclaimer: If I could own one thing from the whole series, I'd own Seto. Unfortunately, unless the creator of Yugioh was willing to sell me Seto Kaiba's character ownership for two bucks, I'd never get him. I do, however, believe I own what my twisted mind puts him through. I think.

Summary: Kicked out of his own body, Seto Kaiba has to deal with the largest betrayal of his fragile heart. Will anyone offer the poor brunette a reason to live? An alternate ending to the Noa Arc.

Warning: Spoiler / yaoi / psychological torture / introspection / angst (it's Seto for crying out loud, when is there not angst?!)

ES: A warning to everyone in general, this story is being written as I write. There is no thought out future.

AN: u.u I royally screwed up Seto's past to make this more dramatic. In reality his mom dies giving birth to Mokuba and his father dies in an accident five years later.

*---*---*---*---*

Marik glared at the fading light from the Sennen Rod. "What did this old piece of faulty junk do now?"

*---*---*---*---*

Seth looked down at the pale flickering soul of his unconscious reincarnation, sighing heavily in relief tinged with worry. It had been close, to close for comfort, the last minute rescue of the brunette's soul. And from the look of it, it was still iffy if the boy would live or die, even here in the soul room of the Sennen Rod where magic strengthened the power of one's soul.

A small whimper came from Seth's feet, indicating that Seto was waking. Kneeling, Seth brought a hand up to the boy's face, caressing the soft skin of Seto's cheek gently. "Shh, my cute little descendant. Shhh..."

Seto jerked violently out of Seth's hold, eyes snapping open with barely veiled fear before shock settled on his features. Seto thought he had seen everything, but seeing a virtual twin in front of him dressed in dark purple robes and pants, with gold embellishments, and the stupidest hat he had ever seen had to take the cake. Especially the hat. Gods, even the stylized beautiful gold dragon around the rim didn't take away from the inherent stupidity and ugliness of that hat.

Catching the direction of the boy's gaze at the slight look of disgust, Seth chuckled. "I know, the headdress doesn't really suit us, but it can't be helped. Certain concessions must be made when displaying one's status and rank."

As Seth continued to stare fondly and settle back to provide room, he guided Seto by the arms to prop himself into a sitting position. Sweat appeared on the teen's skin, even as his image seemed to steady itself into something more tangible. "Who are you and where am I?"

An ironic grin spread across Seth's face. Leave it to his reincarnation to get straight to the point. "I'm Seth, the shadow of your past life in Egypt. As to where we are, we're in my soul room, inside the Sennen Rod."

Seto looked slightly confused. "Wh-" Seth watched his descendant's eyes, noticing as they widened with sudden realization and then squeezed shut fast, a low moan of pain coming from the back of Seto's throat. "Mokuba..." Seto whispered, drawing his knees up and wrapping his arms around his legs, head bowed in an unconscious effort to comfort himself.

Concerned, Seth carefully shifted to a sitting position and pulled Seto towards him. At first Seto resisted, but finally caved and lunged into Seth's embrace, clutching Seth's clothes in a death grip, sobbing bitterly into the purple folds of soft material. Whispering words of comfort, Seth cradled the distressed teen gently, brushing his hand in a parental gesture of soothing through Seto's silky brown tresses.

"I don't want to live," broke a soft voice what seemed hours later, after the broken teen had stopped crying incessantly. Shocked and troubled, Seth looked down at the bowed head of his descendant. Moving one hand, Seth firmly gripped Seto's chin and tilted the boy's head up, to capture those blue eyes. For a few moments, Seth fell into the dark, empty obis those usually soulful ice blue eyes had become. Mentally shaking himself out of their pull, Seth's own ice blue eyes narrowed.

"You must. The duty requiring us being here in this time has not been fulfilled."

A bark of hysterical laughter came from the teen in his arms, further disconcerting Seth. "That's all I'm for though, isn't it? A tool, an object to be used, to be shown around and then thrown away. That's all I'm good for, isn't it?!"

Seth shook the hysterical teen, trying to get his attention. "And what in the name of all the gods gave you that idea?!"

"Papa and Mama, all they did was cart me around, showing me off to the parents of other children and bragging about how smart I was. They didn't care about me at all!"

"Of course they cared about you! They're your parents, they loved you!"

"Then how could they leave us, leave me?! How could they go and kill themselves by jumping off that cliff if they seriously cared about me?!"

Seth was silent. What could he say to that? He knew from his weak connection with Seto the reason the two had jumped. The family had been in a financial crisis at the time, as in a seeming coincidence both parents had been laid off from their jobs with in a span of a week. With the Japanese unspoken rule of loyalty to the company, no one else would take their services for fear of them being spies from their previous employers. The bank account had eventually dried up and their was nothing left. Yet in Seth's mind that was still no reason to leave their offspring alone in the world.

"Certainly, certainly their was some one," Seth whispered quietly.

Seto shook his head violently, tears coming to his eyes once again. "Gozaburo, my adoptive father, all he cared about was that I be strong and cold, the best businessman. I really don't think cutting, whipping, and beating a person is what one would call a show of caring."

Seth winced at that. It was true, he couldn't say that.

Seto buried his head into Seth's shoulder. "And stealing Mokuba's soul, as well as mine... Gods, I don't even understand or know why Pegasus did that!"

Seth sighed deeply, resting a hand on the back of Seto's head, running his fingers through his soft hair, looking off into the distance in guilt. He knew why the older man had done it. Seto's body was a great conductor for arcane energies being Seth's descendant as well as his reincarnation, and with the item the older man could have had power greater then he could even dream of, power surpassing that of even the Sennen Items. If the older man had managed to find the Sennen Rod and use it on Seto, the results could have been devastating, especially in this day and age, maybe even impossible to reverse...

With Noa in Seto's body though, Seth wasn't to concerned. The dead boy's soul had none of the knowledge, nor was it harmonized enough to the body to use even the remotest amount of arcane energy.

"And Mokuba..." the sobbed, scratchy voice of the boy in Seth's arms caught Seth's attention. "Gods, Mokuba just needed someone to protect him, and when I couldn't c-cut it, h-he," Seto's body shuddered, clenching tighter to Seth's form and trembling erratically as he continued to dry sob, all his tears spent.

"Shhh... It'll be fine, you'll see. It'll all turn out right in the end, my cute little descendant." Petting the boy, Seth dropped a small kiss of comfort onto the boy's bowed head.

*---*---*---*---*

ES: O.O My gods, what the hell am I on??

Seto: *grumbles* I would **not** act like that!

Seth: What's wrong with my headdress? It's very fashionable!

ES & Seto: *Stare at Seth as if he's crazy.*

ES: *Can feel a migraine coming on.* Just for that show of utter stupidity, you get to ask.

Seth: *growls* Fine, whatever. Emerald Star, or Yami no Kaiba as she's lately been calling herself... Gods girl, pick one!! What makes you think you're important enough for two names?!

ES: *frowns* There's a reason I have both. I really want to be known by the second, but people know me better by the first. Now shut up and get your speech in gear!

Seth: *below breath* Now there's a contradiction... *regular voice* Anyway, girl with two names here would really appreciate it if you reviewed this. She was sort of disappointed by the lack of response to the prologue. Though she says she understands that, because of the atrocious shortness of it and the sucky summary she posted. Also, she asks that anyone feeling inspired to draw a scene from this, or any of her fan fics to please do so and send it her way with permission to post it in the Gifts section of her site. *snorts* Yeah, like anyone that's reading this could give a shit what you want.

ES: *glares at Seth* Get out of my sight before I hit you over the head with something hard. Like my Old Wave Calculus book, or my Biology book.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Relief 3/?

Author: Emerald Star (FF.net handle)/ Yami no Kaiba (MM.org handle)

Series: Yugioh

Rating: Pg-13

Pairing: ???/Seto + possibly more

Disclaimer: If I could own one thing from the whole series, I'd own Seto. Unfortunately, unless the creator of Yugioh was willing to sell me Seto Kaiba's character ownership for two bucks, I'd never get him. I do, however, believe I own what my twisted mind puts him through. I think.

Summary: Kicked out of his own body, Seto Kaiba has to deal with the largest betrayal of his fragile heart. Will anyone offer the poor brunette a reason to live? An alternate ending to the Noa Arc.

Warning: Spoiler / yaoi / psychological torture / introspection / angst (it's Seto for crying out loud, when is there not angst?!)

ES: u.u I have very little idea how the Noa Arc, or for that matter the Battle City and Battle City Finals End. I only have broad concepts from surfing the net. So please don't take anything I say about that as concrete truth.

*---*---*---*---*

Yugi groaned lightly as he came to, wincing slightly as he tried to move stiff limbs. Sitting up, one hand raised towards his throbbing head as he glanced around at his location.

He was sitting on a bed that was part of a row, with another on the opposite side of a main aisle. Stirring on the beds around him were his friends, Jounouchi to his right and Anzu to his left. Shizuka was on the other side of her brother leaving Otougi and Tristan in the beds across from the brother and sister respectively. Kaiba was across from Yugi with Mokuba by his side. Neither of the last two made any signs of movement, though the rest did.

"What the- We're back in reality, right?" Came the slightly sleep muffled question from Jounouchi.

"Hai, it appears that way, Jounouchi-kun," replied Yugi.

Shizuka looked around, confused. "But I thought we were still dueling one of those Big 5 people..."

Yugi's boyish face turned down in a frown. /Yami, can you tell me what's going on? I thought we had to defeat all of the Big 5 first.../

//...I thought that was also the only way.// Yami didn't like this. Something about the whole situation was off, but he couldn't put his finger on just what. A sinking feeling was starting in the pit of his stomach.

Mokuba stirred a little, then sat up, rubbing one eye sleepily while yawning. "Onii-sama?" He asked, glancing around.

No response came from the still prone figure of the CEO.

That sinking feeling in Yami's stomach had just taken a plunge. //Aibou, can I take over?//

/What? Ok, but why, Yami?/

//Kaiba is taking too long to get back. I don't want you in harms way if he's not the one that wakes up.// Yami replied to Yugi even as they switched places.

/You don't think.../

Yami didn't reply as he hoped off his bed, crossing the aisle neatly to stand over Kaiba's form. Looking at it closely, he couldn't see anything off except for the lack of Kaiba's usual facial expression of superiority. It looked only as if the young teen was sleeping peacefully.

"Yami, what's wrong?" Honda called out, being the first one to notice the change in his friend.

"It's Kaiba. He's not awake yet."

"Onii-sama," Mokuba said in worry, sliding off the side of his bed to stand next to his brothers. Still the brunette didn't respond.

As the other's gathered around the bed, Jounouchi, never having been one to sympathize with Kaiba, decided to try and wake the boy up. Grabbing the CEO none to gently by the shoulders, he started shaking him roughly awake. "Get your ass up, you lazy rich snob!"

"Onii-san, stop that! You'll only give him whiplash," Shizuka cried, grabbing hold of her brother's arm and trying to stop him.

But what really startled the blonde to release his hold was the sudden strong hands around his wrists, squeezing tightly. "Let go of me, mutt." Jounouchi jumped back as Kaiba released his wrists, and rubbed at the already bruising flesh, giving the CEO a nervous look.

Kaiba's cold blue eyes opened, and he took in the view around him till a mass of black hair jumped on him and glomped him hard. "Onii-sama!!"

Startled, Kaiba's arms instantly came up to wrap around the figure of his happy little hyperactive brother. "Stop that, Mokuba-kun. I'm fine, really."

"I knew you'd come to save me, Onii-sama!" A smug smirk skittered across Kaiba's features, a triumphant gleam sparkling in his eyes. [Indeed he tried to, little one. But he was no match for me. Now I own everything he holds dear, right in the palm of my hands, and he's dead,] Noa thought to himself, laughing mentally at Seto's misfortune.

Yami stared at Kaiba, annoyed that the sense of something being off was still present. "Kaiba."

Noa's eyes shifted to Yami's. "What do you want, Yami?

"The game wasn't over. How come we're back here?"

Noa just tilted his head and gave Yami a look as if to say 'you idiot', "As in a puppet show, there are two ways for the show to end. The show ends at its natural conclusion or the puppet master dies. Since Noa was the creator of the virtual simulation, when a person defeated him in a duel the game would end. When I split off from your group to find Mokuba, I met Noa and challenged him. Obviously, I won."

*---*---*---*---*

Noa closed the door behind him, locking the door and finally letting his emotions loose. A wicked, sinister grin crossed the stolen face of the body he had appropriated and he let out a string of suppressed mirthful chuckles.

The cover was perfect. With Mokuba's memories of Noa and Seto's confrontation erased, no one suspected that it was really Noa in the orphan boy's body. It was truly amusing, actually. All these people, who claimed to be close to the brunette couldn't even recognize the subtle personality shift.

"Seto, Seto, Seto," Noa let out laughing, shaking his head. "If it weren't for the fact I killed you already, I would find a way to keep you around to torture you some more with this amusing little drama! Not even your little brother can tell that it's not you this time!" Noa's loud outright laughter at this thought was muffled over by the sound of the air ships engines warming off to take the air ship to Alcatraz for the Finals.

*---*---*---*---*

ES: Well, I'm gonna run with this story well it writes itself for as long as possible. It's really not surprising I'm updating it so fast, what with three different people I've been in pretty close contact with lately have been pushing me to do it. ^^ Also, thanks to everyone that reviewed the last chapter!! Could you all please review again? I know this chapter didn't really have as much dramatic flair to it as the other two, but it needed to be here for plot development.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Relief 4/?

Author: Emerald Star (FF.net handle)/ Yami no Kaiba (MM.org handle)

Series: Yugioh

Rating: R (Rating may still change)

Pairing: Noa/Seto + Seth/Seto + Yami/Seto (I wanna try and do them all... ^_^)

Disclaimer: If I could own one thing from the whole series, I'd own Seto. Unfortunately, unless the creator of Yugioh was willing to sell me Seto Kaiba's character ownership for two bucks, I'd never get him. I do, however, believe I own what my twisted mind puts him through. I think.

Summary: Kicked out of his own body, Seto Kaiba has to deal with the largest betrayal of his fragile heart. Will anyone offer the poor brunette a reason to live? An alternate ending to the Noa Arc.

Warning: Spoiler / yaoi / psychological torture / introspection / angst (it's Seto for crying out loud, when is there not angst?!)

*---*---*---*---*

Seth held the form of his reincarnations now sleeping soul, rubbing Seto's back in a circular manner while brushing lightly at the silky strands of the boy's hair. Holding Seto close, Seth's eyes narrowed as he noted a most strange and troublesome sight.

Seto's tangible form was losing coherency, fading and flickering again. Considering the location the boy's soul was at, such a fast reversal of the continuing strengthening of the soul was nearly impossible. Closing his eyes, Seth sent out his own magical energies, trying to sense what was wrong.

Seth frowned as a mental picture of his cute little descendant's energy came back to him. There seemed to be a connection line from the form in his arms, leading off outside of the Sennen Rod...

"Oh **shit**!"

*---*---*---*---*

__

"Seto, Seto, Seto."

What? Who's there? Who's calling me?

__

"If it weren't for the fact I killed you already, I would find a way to keep you around to torture you some more with this amusing little drama! Not even your little brother can tell that it's not you this time!"

Eh? That doesn't make sense... I'm here aren't I? So I'm alive, right? The last thing I remember...

"Seth."

*---*---*---*---*

__

"Seth." The word echoed through Noa's mind, startling the small genius. Seth? Who was that? And the voice, it had sounded like...

"Seto? Where are you?"

__

"Don't know... It's cold, and dark... So dark, I can't see anything... Where's Seth? He should be here..."

Dark? Oh, great! Noa hadn't killed Seto's soul totally! Yet Noa was still in control of the brunette's body, which meant that the real Seto must have been pushed back into the mind...

Noa started walking towards the bed, taking off his trench coat as he did so and draping it across one of the chairs in the room. Lying down, he forced himself to relax and steady his breathing, quickly slipping into a light sleep...

*---*---*---*---*

Noa looked around the mindscape, quickly finding Seto's pale, flickering, and huddling form in the darkness. Coming over, he took a fistful of the brunette's hair and yanked it back, searching the face of his victim. Tear tracks were visible along the pale cheeks coming from the pained and scared blue eyes. Noa watched with an enigmatic smile as recognition filled their depths. "Noa!"

"Hai, Seto-kun. Me," Noa's smile widened into a sadistic smirk as he slowly looked Seto over. "What a fortunate turn of events, Seto-kun. Now we get to play together till the end of time!" Noa let go of Seto's hair and pushed the boy back forcibly.

Seto let out a small hiss of pain as his head came into contact with the hard tangible darkness he considered the floor. Sprawled out, Seto tried to get up, but gasped instead as black tendrils of the landscape around him snaked their way around his form, chillingly cold in contact with any bare skin it could find.

Light laughter filled the empty void around them, and Seto stared at Noa in shock and fear. What was going on? Had he just dreamed that meeting with Seth? That had been all it was, hadn't it? A dream, fantasy, created by his own mind to find comfort in the arms of another, which he had subconsciously needed so badly...

Noa knelt down next to Seto's bound form, smirk still on his lips as he caressed the others cheek and locked gazes with the other. "I'm going to have so much fun with you, watashi no kawaii asobinakama*."

With that, Noa leaned down and kissed Seto teasingly on the lips before knocking the brunette out cold.

*---*---*---*---*

Yami sat in his soul room, thinking and brooding over the events of the day. Something just wasn't right... No, that was wrong. Yami knew what wasn't right.

Seto Kaiba.

The tall brunette had been acting differently since everyone had been freed from Noa's game. He had barely talked to anyone, giving out some of the weakest insults towards Jounouchi Yami had ever heard the CEO use. He hadn't gloated over his victory against Noa, nor given details on how he had done it.

Plus the way he had acted with Mokuba... Considering how the two had rejoiced in seeing each other again after the whole Pegasus ordeal, their reunion today had been pale in comparison, stopped almost immediately by Seto.

/Look, Yami, I know Kaiba-san has been a bit distant, but he was forced to remember a lot of things he'd rather have forgotten today. Of course he's going to be a bit different./

//... Maybe your right, aibou. I don't even know why I'm thinking about him.//

Yami could hear Yugi snickering through their link. /Gods Yami, you can be really dense some times./

Yami blinked slightly. //What do you mean?//

/Sheesh, Yami, I thought you would've figured it out by now. You love him./

Yami flushed red. //WHAT??!!//

Yugi was laughing full out now. /Come on, Yami! It's not that hard to figure out. You're always watching his ass when he walks by and you're in control./

Yami shut down the link, mortified. Gods, no way, that couldn't be true...

Could it?

*---*---*---*---*

*My cute playmate.

YnK: WAII!! I'm such an evil tease!! And as for what's happening to Seto, you'll find out in the next chappy. ^_^ Also, some of the scenes some baby plot bunnies have described for me are a little long, so the updates between chapters might get longer.

YnK: Also, sorry to the people who wanted Seto to be straight. I'm afraid you should've read the edited warnings in Chapter 2+ and if not, considered how I pair the CEO in my other fics or read my Bio on MM.org. You'll find I don't have one straight pairing under my list of favorite pairings.

Seth: *Stops giving YnK a weird look.* Right... Anyway, again Yami no Kaiba would like a minimum of five reviews. Although she hasn't really been getting five reviews for each chapter and is still posting, she's hoping for a more productive turn out each chapter. Bye!


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Relief 5/?

Author: Emerald Star (FF.net handle)/ Yami no Kaiba (MM.org handle)

Series: Yugioh

Rating: R (Very Highly, Most Likely, Heck, WILL Change)

Pairing: Noa/Seto + Seth/Seto + Yami/Seto (I wanna try and do them all... ^_^)

Disclaimer: If I could own one thing from the whole series, I'd own Seto. Unfortunately, unless the creator of Yugioh was willing to sell me Seto Kaiba's character ownership for two bucks, I'd never get him. I do, however, believe I own what my twisted mind puts him through. I think.

Summary: Kicked out of his own body, Seto Kaiba has to deal with the largest betrayal of his fragile heart. Will anyone offer the poor brunette a reason to live? An alternate ending to the Noa Arc.

Warning: Spoiler / yaoi / psychological torture / introspection / angst (it's Seto for crying out loud, when is there not angst?!)

*---*---*---*---*

Seto's eyes fluttered open, a pathetically small groan issuing from his lips. "Oh, gods, thank Amun Ra you're back!"

"Back...?" Blurry confused blue eyes sought out the owner of the voice, and rested on the concerned countenance of a being looking exactly like Seto himself, except for a different sense of dress style. "Seth..."

Seth scooped the previously comatosed boy into his arms, hugging him furiously and burying his head into the other's shoulder. "Oh, gods, I'm so, so sorry, Seto! I didn't mean for it to work this way!"

"Wha? Seth, calm down, I can't understand what you're saying. I thought, thought I was with Noa..."

Choked sobbing coming from Seth quickly caused Seto to shake the rest of his fatigue away. "Seth...?" Seto leaned back gently taking hold of Seth's shoulders and pushing him into a position where he could see the other's tear stained face. "What's going on?"

Roiling sorrowful and distressed blue eyes locked with slightly apprehensive blue. "T-the spell I used, to b-bring you here. I-I don't know why, b-but it didn't work right!"

Seto bit his bottom lip to try and quell the sudden feeling of approaching nausea. "Then what...?" The intensity of emotions he was seeing in the others eyes stopped him from finishing. But Seth knew, knew what Seto wanted to know. He also knew that Seto had every right to know what had happened, since it directly involved him, even if Seth wanted to spare Seto the news.

"It split your soul in two," came the barely whispered words from the shadow spirit.

*---*---*---*---*

Noa stared down at the peaceful face of his sleeping captive. The figure below him, bound to the ground by the very mindscape's substance was transparent now, flickering at a steady odd pace, reminiscent of a heartbeat. Did souls have hearts? Irrelevant at the moment. A twisted smile of superiority fixed onto the green haired boy's face as he searched the memories of his host for a suitable... change of clothes for the defeated boy. Finding a most pleasing outfit, Noa manipulated the landscape to his whim.

For a few moments, Seto's form was covered with the writhing blackness of the mindscape before it slid away, exposing the newly clothed boy. Gone were the long white trench coat, black pants, and long sleeved shirt. The mid-calf buckled black boots remained, along with the silver forearm bands and the buckled upper armbands. But as far as main clothing went, it was little better then non-existent. Tight black leather embraced the body, cupping the boy's private parts in a style very much like briefs. Hooked around the chest and torso was a sort of harness setup that connected to the lower piece, leaving most of the skin available for what ever Noa felt like doing at the time. The harness also connected upwards where circling the pale slender neck was a black leather buckled choker with a silver hoop ring hanging off the front. With the small ring additions added to the silver forearm bands and boots, the possible positions Noa could force Seto into made the small spirit smirk in anticipation.

Bending down, Noa caressed one pale flickering cheek gently, raking his eyes over the long, slender form in front of him and licked his suddenly dry lips. Seto's form looked so vulnerable now, just the way Noa wanted the usually confident brunette to feel. Soon, when Noa's plan had fully come to fruitation, there would be no need to use his own mental energies to keep his asobinakama in these clothes. For the form created on the mindscape was how one viewed themselves, and when Noa was done, Seto would believe he was nothing more but what his outfit implied: a whore, a sexual slave for another's pleasure. Namely Noa's.

First though Noa would have to break what little self-confidence and pride the brunette had left. That would be a delicate process Noa looked forward to, seeing how long the other would resist and how much pressure he could apply without sending the other into insanity. If all went right, Noa's new goal would be achieved: Seto's total and absolute submission.

"I'll turn you into the beautiful doll you were meant to be, Seto-kun," Noa whispered, brushing stray strands back from closed eyelids that were framed by long lashes. With his other hand, he snapped his fingers, twisting the environment around him to his wanting.

A grainy rough block of stone formed below Seto, large heavy chains driven into the rock fastened themselves to the rings on the collar, wristbands, and boots. The altar like formation rose up out of the ground, to a comfortable table height for the young green haired boy. Sliding up to sit on the edge, Noa leaned over to run one hand across the bare skin of the torso well framing the flickering face as he kissed the sleeping form, pushing quickly past unresistive lips to taste the sweet cavity beyond.

A heavy moan was pulled from Noa's throat, and he had to resist going further. Although it would be so simple to just rape Seto now and fulfil the deep-seated desire in Noa's body, that was exactly the problem. The rape itself wouldn't be enough. Noa knew the 'training' Seto had gone through at his father's hands, Seto would be able to withstand the pain and mental scars it would cause.

Pulling back, Noa smiled down at the faded form below him. "Wake up, Seto-kun," he whispered, then backhanded the brunette, creating light clinking from the disturbed chains.

A gasp came from slightly parted lips and sapphire blue eyes snapped open only to close again, wincing in pain. A hand slipped under and cradled the unmarred cheek, gently coaxing the face to turn back towards Noa. The same brilliant tints of colors met, one swirling with slight fear and pain while the other was hazy with suppressed desire. Seto's form stopped flickering and quickly lost its translucent quality.

"Time to play, my beautiful asobinakama," Noa declared, eyes sparking in excitement.

*---*---*---*---*

Marik stared at the Sennen Rod, lost in thought. The item had been acting up to much lately, all on its own. [Almost as if it had a mind of its own, but that's impossible...]

Marik growled low in his throat, tossing the rod onto his bed. [There has to be a connection in this, somewhere!] A flash of memory sparkled in Marik's mind and he grabbed for it. [The first time, that had been during Onee-san's duel with Kaiba... And I overheard that girl Shizuka talking about how worried they had been when Kaiba hadn't woken up immediately to Mai's body...]

Marik's eyes narrowed as he sat down on his bed beside the Sennen Rod. "And of course he has Obelisk and can control the card's power." Marik closed his eyes and a smile of irony fluttered to his lips. "Seems I've underestimated your importance from the start, Seto Kaiba."

*---*---*---*---*

YnK: ^_^ Well, seems I am an evil tease. School is boring though, so expect another update sometime this week, either on this story or one of my others.

Seto: I can't believe you're leaving me in that situation!

YnK: Hush you! At least you're the main character. Now Seth, read them the wants!

Seth: *gives YnK an annoyed look then sighs* YnK would like another five reviews, because she's a paranoid little thing that believes she's getting virus's through her e-mail from people that don't like her writing. Also, she'd be very appreciative if anyone that reads this or any of her stories could draw one or two scene's from them and send them her way. She just asks permission to post the pictures on her site in the Gifts section.


	6. Chapter 6

0Title: Relief 6/?

Author: Emerald Star (FF.net handle)/ Yami no Kaiba (MM.org handle)

Series: Yugioh

Rating: R (Very Highly, Most Likely, Heck, WILL Change)

Pairing: Noa/Seto + Seth/Seto + Yami/Seto (I wanna try and do them all... ^_^)

Disclaimer: If I could own one thing from the whole series, I'd own Seto. Unfortunately, unless the creator of Yugioh was willing to sell me Seto Kaiba's character ownership for two bucks, I'd never get him. I do, however, believe I own what my twisted mind puts him through. I think.

Summary: Kicked out of his own body, Seto Kaiba has to deal with the largest betrayal of his fragile heart. Will anyone offer the poor brunette a reason to live? An alternate ending to the Noa Arc.

Warning: Spoiler / yaoi / psychological torture / introspection / angst (it's Seto for crying out loud, when is there not angst?!)

*---*---*---*---*

Seth's blue eyes looked over at the bed in concern, ignoring the papyrus scroll in front of him for the eighth time since Seto had suddenly fallen unconscious again, pulled back to the other side of his soul. Glancing over the attire, Seth winced slightly and bit his lip.

Whatever was happening between Noa and Seto at the moment, Seth didn't know. However, the dissolvel of Seto's trench coat and shirt, along with the appearance of metal rings on the boy's wristbands and boots over the span of two hours seriously troubled the boy's ancestor.

A glint of red caught Seth's eye and he hastily shoved away from the smooth marble desk, abandoning the stool and hurried over to the bed, getting a better view. Blood was seeping into the gray sheets, though no open wounds were visible with Seto lying on his back, though there was a trickle of blood coming from the corner of his lips as well as a dark livid bruise marring one cheek.

Lightly, Seth reached out and took hold of Seto's shoulders, pulling the boy's upper body off the bed. The sticky sheets clung to Seto's back, refusing to let go of their purchase, some of the blood having dried, sealing the sheets to the skin.

Cursing lightly, Seth laid Seto back, rushing off to get a basin of water, rags, and bandages. When he returned with the items, he almost dropped them in shock.

"Oh, Amun Ra..." Seto was awake, curled up on his side, facing away from Seth. The change in position had pulled the sheets off his back, revealing the source of the blood. The old scars from Seto's childhood had been reopened, allowing the red liquid to trickle out and spread over the pale skin. The whole form had been shaking in suppressed sobs, but at the sound of Seth's voice that had stopped, Seto tensing up in anticipation, of what Seth couldn't tell. "Seto, this is gonna hurt, but I have to clean you up..."

"S-Seth?" Seto moved to sit up, whimpering as he stretched the skin of his back, but succeeding all the same. Red tinted blue eyes framed by tear soaked pale skin made Seth's heart ache in sympathy. Distrust, pain, and doubt were swirling in those sapphire eyes and Seth wanted nothing more than to do what he did.

After depositing his burden on one of the side tables at the head of the bed, Seth sat down beside Seto on the bloody sheets. Reaching out, he gently took hold of Seto and pulled him into his lap were the boy immediately curled into his warmth, hissing a bit harder then before. "It's not only your back that's hurt, is it? What else is wrong, Seto?"

Seto's hands clenched in Seth's clothes. "A f-few of my ribs, they're also broken."

Seth narrowed his eyes, anger sparking in his heart. [Noa, you bastard! If we ever meet, you'll be a pile of ash when I'm done with you!] One of Seth's hands snaked around Seto's waist, holding the boy lightly so as not to upset him with the feeling of being trapped. After a few moments of comforting silence, Seth spoke up. "Feeling a little better now?" A small almost nonexistent nod came from Seto, and Seth moved the teenager from the bed and sat him down on the stool. "Stay here for a moment, while I change the sheets."

As Seth moved off to get a new set of sheets, Seto winced in guilt at the state of his shadow's clothes. There were dark splotches in the rich purple material that looked like a washed out brown. Streaks of red covered the gold embellishments, as well as some of the pale skin. "Gomen nasai."

Seth paused in flapping out a new thin sheet, peering back over his shoulder at Seto. "Sorry for what? It's not like you could help it. What ever happened took place obviously against your will." Seth laid the sheet down, tweaking it straight with practiced ease and kicked the soiled sheets into a pile. Muttering a spell under his breath he pitched a small ball of fire at the pile that became quickly consumed in the flames.

In but a few minutes Seto found himself laid out on the bed again, but this time facing towards the mattress. Seth was carefully washing the long gashes on his back, rubbing a slightly stinging salve into the clean ones. "Tell me what happened, Seto," Seth commanded as his long light fingers danced across the skin, applying a trade Seth barely remembered.

"Noa-sam-" Seto stopped abruptly, shuddering at the honorific he had almost applied to the green haired boy. "Noa, what he's doing, at first I didn't get it, and in a way I still don't. He replays some of my memories, always making comments here or there. Part of me tells me that the memories are authentic, real. Another part says they're wrong, that something, some element, has been changed." Seto's eyes were fogged as he rambled, obviously his mind caught at one of those times.

**__**

His father came home, slamming the door shut. Eyes wide in fear, Seto took in the much taller form before him. Severely cut black hair crowned a usually handsome face that was twisted in anger, slate blue eyes that were cold and harsh glared down at the small seven year old boy.

"You just had to do it in school, didn't you?!"

"Gomen nasai! I didn't mean-"

"Of course you didn't mean to! You never mean to! Yet you still do it! Stop playing an ancient priest, you worthless piece of filth!"

"I-"

"Shut up!" A backhand sent the boy into the wall, sharp pain flaring from one side at impact, causing the small boy to scream out before he slid slowly to the floor.

"That wasn't the only time your father broke your bones, was it, Seto-kun," Noa more stated then asked, draping himself over Seto's back, looking over his shoulder curiously at the memory scene in front of them. Seto was chained down in a kneeling position on the floor, arms wrapped around his midriff as a bruise started to spread on one high boned cheek.

A small cough was hastily followed by a thin splattering of blood onto the floor, mirroring the actions of the boy in front of them. "N-no, Noa, it wasn't..."

A slight frown spread on Noa's countenance, and his hands trailed down Seto's arms to rest over the brunette's. Noa leaned in, breathing lightly onto one of Seto's ears, making his playmate shudder. "I thought we went over this, watashi no asobinakama," Noa breathed slowly, pressing inwards with his hands. The sound of bone shifting on bone was drowned out by Seto's scream. "You will address me as Noa-sama."

Panting, Seto hung his head, trying to recover from the pain. A small resistive growl built in his throat. "I wouldn't call you my master even if it would save my life!"

Noa smiled sadistically, amused. "Perhaps a change of memory would help," he purred enticingly, running a hand over the long scars laid bare on Seto's back.

A sharp tug on the last bandage brought Seto back to the present. His form was shaking lightly from the vividness of the flashback. Seth, seeing his descendant's situation, ran his hand comfortingly though Seto's silky fine hair. "You said a part of you feel's these memories aren't all true?" The feeling of a slight nod in ascent made Seth hum slightly in thought. "Then I'd have to say there's a high probability some of them are fabrications based off of a real memory."

Seto tilted his head, peering over his shoulder at Seth. "But how can I tell which is true and which is false? I know the last memory before I passed out happened because I still had the scars from it, but most of what he shows me is emotionally and psychologically damaging, not physically."

Seth sighed, moving away from the bed and heading for a bureau. "I suggest you look at the environment in the memory. Think about what should and shouldn't be there." Seth quickly got out another set of clothes for himself.

Seto blushed slightly as he watched Seth change. As Seth pulled his shirt off, Seto couldn't help his outburst. "Your back!"

Seth turned to him, dropping the cloth on the floor. "As Isis said, history seems to be repeating itself in the most peculiar ways."

Seto sighed, resting his hands on his crossed arms. "I didn't want to believe her, you know. Even when she showed me the past, and Yugi's Yami told me about himself, I ignored the truth, even when I started having those visions again."

Seth nodded, pulling the sash around his waist tight as he finished dressing. "That may actually be my fault. Up until Marik took the Sennen Rod, I was trying to contact you, in order to make you come to me on your own. I might have leaked my memories instead. With you in such close proximity to the Rod during the finals, it would be no surprise that you'd pick up some more of my memories."

Seto smiled slightly as he watched Seth burn the ruined set of clothes and walk back to sit on the edge of the bed with him. "It was fun sometimes. The kids and school staff thought I was schizophrenic when I'd act out what was going on in the memories when they were a bit to overwhelming."

Seth chuckled at the mental images he saw from the weak link he had with his descendant. "So it would seem. Now why don't we get some rest? You'll need it for when Noa calls you back. I'll anchor your consciousness here as long as I can, but if he calls, I won't be able to do much with Marik's shadow in control of the Sennen Rod."

Seto inched over, leaving room for Seth to lay down and pull him close. Whispering a spell under the his breath, the priest pulled the covers over them. "Oyasumi nasai, Seto."

Seto cuddled up to Seth, gripping lightly at the shadow's clean shirt. "Oyasumi nasai, Seth." With that, both fell into a blissful sleep.

*---*---*---*---*

YnK: If your not lost by now, it's a miracle! I'm sleepy right now, with a sore throat, so Seth's gonna make this quick and fast.

Seth: NOA I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! *cough's lightly* ahem, uh, yeah... YnK asks for the usual amount of reviews, as well as any fanart from her stories anyone wants to send her way.

Seto: *gets pushed forward roughly by YnK* Grrr... *is blushing furiously* YnK would like to tell everyone that she drew a sketch slightly related to this story. If any one wants to see how I'd look in Noa's choice of clothes, either go to Mediaminer.org and check out the picture attached to this story or go to her fan page at http://www.angelfire.com/anime3/emerald_star/index.html .


End file.
